John Galardi is a loner, unable to express his feelings except in the
pages of his zine, "Bananafish." He finds inspiration in another zine,
"Escape Velocity," created by Marisol Guzman, a self-proclaimed "rich
spoiled lesbian private-school gifted-and-talented writer virgin." Her
sharp observations make John laugh out loud and he decides he must meet
this witty author.

By planting himself in Tower Records the day she drops off the latest
issue, John manages to arrange a coffee date that extends over several
Saturday mornings. They discuss everything from John's inability to
feel and his parent's divorce to Marisol's problems with her
suffocating adoptive parents. When Marisol casually tells John that she
likes him, he is flabbergasted: "Honest to God a shiver ran through my
body... Nobody ever said that they liked me. Ever. Not even [my friend]
Brian, who probably actually doesn't."

After a disastrous "just friends" junior prom date and a weekend zine
conference spent together, John realizes that his feelings for Marisol
are more than platonic. And Marisol, who is exploring her identity as a
young lesbian, has no idea how to let John down gently without losing
her new best friend.